


Love Is A Thing (That Goes Bump In The Night)

by whiteblankpage



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Possessive Behavior, Scent Kink, Scent Marking, Werewolf Adam, Werewolf Lore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-03
Packaged: 2017-12-05 04:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/718689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteblankpage/pseuds/whiteblankpage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His hearing sharpened to an alarming degree, picking up the elevated heart beat of the two people outside the performance room. Rachel Berry and her mysterious friend. Adam breathed in another long, slow breath and trembled. He wanted to <i>scent</i> him, roll over and rub against that smell until everyone knew that he found him first.</p><p>It was possessive and probably a little bit offensive to human sentimentality but the instincts of a werewolf rarely yielded to human thinking.   </p><p>Adam watched with a hungry gaze as he walked back up the aisle, pale cheeks and wrist-bones, heart fluttering loudly in his chest. </p><p>“Hello. I’m Kurt Hummel and I’ll be auditioning for the role of…NYADA student.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is A Thing (That Goes Bump In The Night)

**Author's Note:**

> The werewolf lore in this story is definitely Teen Wolf-inspired. I'd almost call it a fusion with the show really. An AU? An AR? 
> 
> Typical werewolf warnings apply, if you think I've left anything out in the tags, please let me know.

Adam Crawford darted in between the seats at the last moment, ignoring the doorman’s distant, affronted huff as he put on a burst of unnatural speed just as the first act began. 

Immediately his overly sensitive hearing picked out that one of the cellos was off-tune and someone needed a new reed. Amelia Brighton was coming down with a nasty cold. Three rows up, a round man in what looked like a burgundy sash had a bad case of indigestion. Someone else had bathed in the thick, chemical scent of Axe to drown out the stench of weed.

Adam grit his teeth and exhaled slowly through his mouth.

Full moons were the  _worst_.

Had it not been for the slightest hint of the scent Adam had been chasing around the NYADA campus all year, he would have abandoned this year’s Winter Show Case to run in the abandoned dog park behind his apartment complex. 

Leaning almost fully into the aisle, Adam sniffed hard but the sheer number of people who assumed dressing up meant wearing harsh scents did nothing more than prompt a sudden and _frightening_ sneezing fit. 

By the time Rachel Berry had wowed them all with her easy talent, Adam was muttering about allergies to the startled woman on his right and more than ready to call it a night. 

Then Carmen Tibideaux called a young man out of the audience and challenged him to an audition after a brief intermission. The crowd buzzed with excitement and Adam winced at the boom of noise before his hearing readjusted. 

Rachel quickly urged the young man down the aisle, hands grasped tightly. Adam craned his neck to watch them leave, only to grip at the edge of his seat when the very scent he’d been searching for wafted across the air. 

His hearing sharpened to an alarming degree, picking up the elevated heart beat of the two people outside the performance room. Rachel Berry and her mysterious friend. Adam breathed in another long, slow breath and trembled. He wanted to  _scent_  him, roll over and rub against that smell until everyone knew that he found him first.

It was possessive and probably a little bit offensive to human sentimentality but the instincts of a werewolf rarely yielded to human thinking.   

Adam watched with a hungry gaze as he walked back up the aisle, pale cheeks and wrist-bones, heart fluttering loudly in his chest. 

“Hello. I’m Kurt Hummel and I’ll be auditioning for the role of…NYADA student.”

His breath shuddered out in the silence, loud enough to Adam to make him want to whine in sympathy. 

Then, as the piano started, he  _sang_.

Low and soft, Adam actually sighed at the smoothness of his voice. The buzz of the change under his skin, the ever-aching pull of the moon against his heart eased. Kurt’s notes soared into a pleading demand and Adam felt a howl bubble in his chest with the need to join him.

The lady to his right sniffled, pressing a tissue to her cheek. 

It was a siren’s song. No one appeared unaffected as they watched Kurt gracefully hold the final note. The applause was immediate and as Kurt’s eyes grew wet under the praise, Adam knew he’d see him in the halls of NYADA before long.

He clapped until his hands stung all the same.

Halfway across town, Leslie Brighton pulled her mini bottle of pepper spray off it’s clip on her backpack. 

The creep rattling the garbage cans was going to be a sniveling snot-covered loser when he came face to face with her.

“I swear to _God_ \- I’m fucking armed, buddy!”

The chain links on the fence to her right rattled just as a low, rumbled growl echoed down the alleyway.

“Jesus Christ, a creep _with a dog_. If that thing’s over two pounds and doesn’t have a muzzle, I’m going to make sure it’s euthanized,  _you fuckwad_!”

Leslie screamed the insult into the night, panting as silence greeted her in return. The hyper-awareness of being watched, of being stalked, didn’t fade and after a moment’s indecision, she took off down the nearest alleyway.

The dog behind her snarled and gave chase.

“Someone help!” she screamed, skidding on the slick pavement and dropping her pepper spray. “Help!”

She remembered hearing on one of those afternoon talk shows, the kind where the host brought on self-defense experts and people who talked about how not to be assaulted, instead of talking about how people just shouldn’t assault you, that the one thing you didn’t do while running away was look back.

It slowed you down, tripped you up, got you caught.

Against that knowledge, Leslie peered back into the darkness behind her.

The dog- a logical part of her brain knew it was much much too big to be a mere _dog_ \- seemed to bunch up, muscles bulging under the thick, matted fur. Dirty, claws scraped loudly against the pavement as it geared up and pounced.

Leslie barely had a chance to draw a breath as the monster’s mouth gaped open and wide, sharp teeth tore into her throat.

Hot blood ran out onto the ground, steaming in the cold night air as the creature chewed noisily. An old man, dirty and used to the harsh New York winters peered out at the sight of the beast, its mouth split open in a bloody grin. 

He swallowed hard, a sickness churning in his belly. The thing’s head shot up from the young girl’s mauled body, red eyes pinning the old man in his place.

With another bone-rattling growl, it pounced again.

 

* * *

 

"They're calling it an animal attack." Another voice whispered in the constant hum that was NYADA, post-coffee. Adam pulled his beanie down over his head and wished for death. Even his teeth ached his morning.

“An  _animal_  attack? We live in New York City, not Utah.”

“What’s wrong with Utah?”

A newspaper was quickly thrust in front of his face, the headline a bold ‘Animal Attack Kills Two’.

“Well?”

Adam pushed the newspaper down, revealing Trish Sterling. Her dark eyes stared up at him solemnly. “Was it….you know?”

She curled her hand into a claw, mimicking a wide-mouthed snarl. Adam pushed her hand down as well. “What are you even talking about right now?”

Trish flicked out the newspaper’s crinkles and read from from the front page. “Two bodies were discovered in an alleyway on the West End early this morning by officials. Sources confirm that both bodies- that of an unidentified male and female- were ripped to pieces by what was quiet obviously an animal-“

 Adam snatched the paper from her hands, eyes scanning the rest of the article. “Well it’s hardly fair to assume it was one of my people.”

Joshua Matthews paused beside them, eyeing the paper incredulously. “Hey- _what_?”

Adam smiled widely. “The British. We’re a scrappy group but hardly one for the maiming and the clawing.”

Joshua shook his head. “Trish why are you even reading that- why would it be- can we get to practice before Arnold has to get to the airport. This’ll be the last we all see of each other until after the new year.”

Trish made such a loud, aggrieved noise at the quick dismissal that Adam wrapped his arm around her shoulders and propelled them both across the walk to NYADA.

Out of sight, he deftly folded the paper with one hand and tucked it into his messenger bag for later.

 

* * *

 

It always hurt a little, right in that awfully tender spot called his pride, that the sign-up paper for the Apples stayed blank. Matilda had designed the poster at the start of the year and it was fantastic- bright and artistic and Adam didn’t understand why no one wanted to be a part of something that looked so  _fun_.

Still, every morning Adam did a quick round about the sign-up board, ready to pounce on any and all unsuspecting prey.

Or freshmen. The kick-up in their heart beats were the same.

Walking into the common room, immediately he knew Kurt Hummel was there. The room was noisy, full of heart beats and voices and the buzzing hum of mobiles but that scent was sharp and fresh and compelling. It pulled his feet into a brisk walk by just as Kurt was wondering out loud about his Apples.

“NYADA Show Choir,” he said quickly, his heart pounding hard. “You should join, it’s super fun.”

Kurt let out a startled huff but Adam kept going, his nails sharpening as he strode away.

“Come on, don’t lose it now- you’re not a horny teenager anymore,” he said to himself, the words barely a whisper. Ducking in the nearest bathroom, Adam nodded to the two men waving desperately at the smoke in the air around their head. 

His palms were sticky with blood where the wolf nails had cut into the meaty flesh. The cuts had healed quickly but left a bit of a mess. 

“Walked into a wet wall,” he said easily as the two guys stared at the pink-stained sink in fearful curiosity. “Someone must have moved the sign.”

“Oh, dude,” the closest guy shook his head, eyes glazed. “Man, for a second there it looked like real blood. Damn, man.”

Adam flashed them a quick look at his uninjured palms. “Lay off the joints a while, gents.”

 

* * *

 

Trish was waiting for him in the auditorium, a sheaf of papers gripped in her hand that Adam knew had nothing to do with their latest ‘Baby Got Back’ project. A few of the Apples had groaned at the choice but Adam was determined to keep their practices fun.

“Please tell me those aren’t what I think they are.”

Trish shoved half of the pile into his hands with a grimace. “Did you even talk to the local pack over the break? It was a werewolf and it’s already struck again.”

Adam’s gaze sharpened as he caught sight of a glossy crime scene photograph. “Did you hack into the police records-  _Patricia_.”

Bitten nails tapped hard at the picture. “Lecture me later- check out this bite.”

Knowing better than to encourage her, he peered down at the picture in his hand with a sigh and immediately found himself stunned. 

“Are there more?” He asked, back tensing as he recognized the bite of another werewolf. “Any survivors?”

Trish knelt down on the floor to dig right to the bottom of her backpack, hands shaking with excitement. “I told you- no, whoever this is, they always go right for the throat.”

It bugged him, the pictures. They weren’t normal- well, as normal as a werewolf attack could possible be.

Adam hummed, dropping down to sprawl next to her. “It’s instinctive- or retaliatory. We go for the throat in self-defense or to steal-“

Trish leaned in close, eyes wide. “What? Most betas are fond of clawing the shit out of their prey.”

“Who else did you tell about this?”

“Just you. I can’t be involved in this,” Trish told him with a grimace. “Not officially. If the local pack thinks  _I’m_  investigating, they’ll think I’m hunting without authority and I’ll have to leave the city.”

“From now on, you come to me only,” Adam said, gathering the papers up from the floor. “No one else. It isn’t safe.”

Trish wrung her hands together, anxiety in the set of her shoulders and the downturn of her face. “What’s wrong? It's just another rabid omega right?”

She looked wary but determined and much too young for the life she’d promised to leave behind. Adam forced a smile. “Nothing you need worry about, I’ll deal with it. If I have to, I’ll bring it before the pack myself.”

Trish pulled a face. “Have I mentioned how much I hate being forced into an early retirement?”

Adam wrapped his arm around her shoulders tightly, wishing he’d had a younger sibling. It was hard to be affectionate when your older sister could pin you to the floor with a single paw.

“Go get ready for practice, the others will be here shortly.”

Trish nodded, arms wrapped tightly around her ribs as she left. 

He waited until her footsteps had become softer with distance, pulling out the photo of the latest victim- an older, bearded gentleman. 

The bite marks were painful looking- purple-blue bruised and jagged, as if the man had struggled. 

They were also, Adam knew, not the typical bite of a rogue beta or omega.

These had come from an alpha.

 

* * *

 

Meeting Kurt Hummel, actually talking to the young man who’s very existence had Adam’s wolf in a tailspin, panting and howling with excitement, had been extraordinary.

“Did you see his smile? He was smiling!” 

Joshua was giving him a wide-eyed, vaguely terrified side-eye. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fantastic!”

The Apples traded looks of sheer incredulous amusement but Adam’s high would not be sunk. 

Kurt had given him chase, had smiled at him and looped a trail around a highly unnecessary pillar when Adam had been too stunned to catch up. 

Adam sucked in a slow deep breath, chest growing warm with the scent of contentment and a lot of disgusting sweat from their attempts at dancing and  _Kurt_.

Trish snapped him out of his daze by chucking a water bottle at the back of his head.

It seemed impossible not to follow Kurt’s scent around NYADA after that, taking the detour through the freshmen’s building just to watch the way he blushed at being compared to a young Paul Newman. 

A fierce protectiveness welled up in Adam at the way Kurt seemed to wave off his compliment, the whine trapped in his chest tempering the burn of anger at the mention of his former lover.

“Let’s try this again,” he said, voice deepening with sincerity. “Hey Kurt, nice plie.”

Kurt’s heart beat stuttered as he met Adam’s gaze in the mirror, the hazy scent of an old hurt fading from the air around them.

“Thank you,” he said, almost formally. Adam smiled, utterly charmed.

 

* * *

 

When bodies five and six appeared, Adam shrugged on his jacket and took a trip down to the nearest crime scene.

He certainly knew better than to contaminate the place with his presence but there were things he knew the police wouldn’t take into account. Things that a werewolf could.

Scents that lingered through even the harshest of mid-winter slush. Behaviours that only made sense when the wolf overtook the man, caged him with the light of the moon.

Even from down the block, Adam could smell the blood. The wind carried the scents of New York- of garbage and humans and air pollution. Of greasy foods and chemicals and waste. In front of the yellow police tape, Adam cleared his throat as the thick scent of old fear and metal sat heavy on his tongue. 

The alpha hadn’t been kind. Adam spotted blood splatter high against the brick walls of the nearest building, could smell the rot of the flesh the police had left behind. 

Perhaps, most importantly, Adam’s nose caught the stench of the alpha itself. Rank from dried blood, from the wet slush and mud and old meat. Adam grimaced and with a quick step back from the tape took off towards the trail that scent had left behind.

It jumped in spots, threw Adam for a loop until his keen gaze caught sight of claw marks along telephone poles and gouges in the sides of buildings. The alpha was keeping his trail hidden as much as possible, perhaps not all that feral as Adam had thought.

It wasn’t until he’d rounded a familiar corner that a chill crept up Adam’s spine and he froze. Werewolves were fond of running- the sweat and exertion a natural way to mark a wolf’s territory. He’d run circles around his own apartment complex, left clawed marks in the cement walls and asphalt roads. 

This werewolf was no different, even if his nightly activities seemed to involve more carnage than Adam’s.

The alpha had carved itself a piece of New York City, had left bodies as place-markers and scarecrows to other predators.

Right at it’s heart, was NYADA.

 

* * *

 

“What did Alpha Reyes say?” Trish asked, gaze darting about quickly.

“He’s got a couple of men on the force who let him know what I’d found,” Adam said, leaning with his back against the wall. “He’s not happy about the murders. It makes him look weak, like he can’t handle New York City.”

“And me?”

Adam sighed. “He asked but I told him you’d promised to stay out of it. He knows you’re not just going to ignore a rising body count but if you pull a weapon on a werewolf you’re out of here.”

Trish bit angrily at her nails. “Fucking pisspot. He’s lucky I haven’t called in my grandfather yet.”

“Well, that will surely piss him off and we’ve got enough trouble as it is,” he said soothingly. “I’ve offered to keep an eye out around here, especially on the full moons.”

“I wish I could join you- you’re going to need back-up.”

A familiar scent drew his attention away from the conversation at hand, Kurt crouched at the top of the stairs, fiddling with something. The curve of his back was a welcome distraction.

Adam knew that if he’d had a tail, it would’ve been wagging.

“Hold that thought- Kurt!”

He brought up the Sondheim medley quickly, hoping to pull Kurt in with the thrill of a challenging song, hands reaching out to touch at his elbows and wrists. He felt shivery and intent all at once. 

Kurt agreed to join the Apples, tilting his head to the side and God, Adam just wanted to bite him a little. It was alarming how much his mouth watered at the thought.

He quickly made his way down the stairs.

Kurt called him back, cheeks flushed as he asked Adam out for coffee- or a drink they both knew he wasn’t old enough to purchase.

“I know this really great coffee shop just a ten minute walk from here, if you’re willing to wait for me to grab my jacket.”

Kurt hugged his bag to his hip, biting back a smile. “Really? Right now?”

“I couldn’t possibly wait.”

 

* * *

 

Coffee with Kurt was a revelation. 

There was something about a warm cup and close quarters that made people come alive. 

Kurt was no exception. 

He spoke of his home in Ohio, of his father and step-mother, of his brother and their friends. Even Rachel was a fond topic, despite her preoccupation with her boyfriend, Brody.

In return, Adam found himself opening up about his older sister, how she had taken on the family business when their parents had died. Kurt had taken hold of his hand, eyes sad and sympathetic. Had Adam been less of a realist and more of a romantic, he knew he'd be wondering if they were always destined to meet this way, to fall in love in New York City shops and sing each other silly songs.

Before they knew it, time had painted the sky navy, the hour late. 

“I should get home before Rachel sends a search party out for me.”

Adam gathered his coat from the back of the chair, stepping close and easing the heavy material up over Kurt’s shoulders. His fingers lingered there, the heavy tha-thump of Kurt’s heart the only sound that mattered.

“I’ll walk you to the station,” he said after a moment, hastily pulling on his own winter wear. “You really shouldn’t be out alone right now.”

“Because of the animal attacks?” Kurt asked, holding the door open. The air was cold again, the sidewalks slick from the frozen slush. “It’s crazy to think there’s something out in the streets of a city like New York that can do that to a person. ” He flipped his collar up against the cold wind. “Or maybe I’m just too small town.”

Adam slipped his arm around Kurt’s waist, high enough to be polite. “I hardly think you’re too small anything.”

Kurt laughed at the unintentional innuendo, turning his face away. 

“Oh God, that wasn’t what I meant at all-” Adam opened and closed his mouth, stunned speechless. “I mean, not to say- _fuck_.”

“Let’s just let it go, okay?”

“Please.”

“This is my station,” Kurt said after a moment, pausing near the railing of the stairs. “I’ll see you at practice tomorrow?”

“You sure you don’t want me to wait with you until the train comes?” Adam asked, the hair on the back of his neck prickling. The street was still busy but their position felt unprotected, vulnerable. 

He didn’t like the idea of leaving Kurt alone here.

“You’re not paying a faire just to see me off,” Kurt said. “I’ll be fine- there’s people around and Rachel’s taken to hooking a rape whistle onto my bag every morning.”

Adam pulled his arm back, sliding his hand along the belt of Kurt’s winter coat, fingers playing with the folds of the fabric there. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Kurt leaned into his touch briefly and for a moment Adam wondered if he hadn’t mistaken his own strength again and pulled him in. 

“Tomorrow,” Kurt promised, gripping the hand at his side and with a small squeeze, let him go. “Stay safe.”

Adam stepped back, shoving his hand in his pocket as he watched Kurt’s flawlessly styled hair disappear down the subway stairwell. 

He was in so much trouble.

 

* * *

 

Adam spent three nights perched on a rooftop when news of another body came in. Alpha Reyes had sent him three other werewolves, each one perched on viewpoint as high above the piece of city the rogue alpha had lined out in blood. 

It was a fruitless mission, when round-the-clock watch couldn't be maintained without someone noticing the men hunched on the shingles, staring down at the crowds of people. One of the betas- a red-haired woman named Brenna- looked particularly vibrant in the morning sunrise.

"He's pissed," she later told Adam over five egg McMuffin wrappers. "He's got the Chief of Police calling every hour for updates, the Mayor's getting bad press and we're worried that a near double-digit body count is going to attract hunters."

"Trish hasn't kept anyone on her side up on what's been happening," Adam felt compelled to add. "She's letting us handle it."

"Yeah but all it takes is one fucking crazy with a shotgun who left his tin hat at home and we're swarmed with the kind of hunters who don't care that we're half-human."

Adam chugged his coffee, peeking at the time and absolutely refusing to entertain the idea of those kind of hunters coming to New York. Scoping out NYADA.

"I've got to go- I've got class in forty-five minutes and choir practice after that."

Brenna waved him off. "Stay safe."

A parting had never sounded quite so ominous before.

 

* * *

 

Adam opened his arms wide, wrapping them tightly around Kurt’s chest as he came up behind him. They were tired and sweaty from practice and he couldn't resist pulling Kurt back and shoving his face into the dip of his shoulder and neck.

“Whoa, um,” Kurt’s heart beat kicked up at the closeness, his hands flapping in the air a moment before he gently touched the arms around his chest. “Oh, please don’t- I probably smell.”

“Hush,” Adam murmured into the damp skin. “You’re lovely.”

“And that’s the cue for us to leave,” Joshua said. “Before Adam starts humping someone’s leg.”

“Dog jokes are you serious right now?” Adam asked, pulling his face away from the smooth skin of Kurt’s neck to glare at him. He licked the salty moisture from where his mouth had touched skin and hummed.

Kurt pulled out of his grip with a shrug, pink embarrassment spreading from the curve of his cheeks to the lines of his collarbones. He looked ready to take flight. 

“I have to speak with you anyway, walk with me?”

Adam pulled at the back of his shirt, fingertips catching on Kurt’s hips as they walked off, pressed close from front to back. Kurt gently touched his wrists.

“You’re so….”

Adam pulled back with a wince, even if all he wanted to do was drape himself over Kurt’s back and rub his chin over the crown of his hair. His instinct to mark had never been so insistent. “Sorry, I tend to just... crowd you, don’t I? I apologize if that makes you uncomfortable.”

Kurt reached over and with jerky, uncertain motions, put Adam’s hands back where they’d been rubbing at his sides. 

“I was trying to say affectionate,” he said with a wry grin. He looked down. “And of course it makes me…but it isn’t _bad_.”

Adam tried not to read too much into the fact that Kurt liked him close. 

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

Kurt visibly steeled himself. “Dinner. You mentioned loving Chinese and my boss took me to a wonderful place not far from here. I’d need to call ahead and reserve a table but if you’re interested-“

“I’d love to go to dinner with you,” Adam said, bouncing on his toes. “When? Now? Do we have time to change?”

Kurt laughed loudly, leaning in to drop a bold kiss on his cheek. “I’ll text you with a date and time. Do try to wear something a little polished though. It’s a lovely place and it deserves our finest.”

“If I’m there with you-“

Kurt covered Adam’s mouth with a quick hand. “Sometimes I think you only compliment me because you like to see me blush.”

Adam shrugged. It wasn’t the only reason but bashfulness was hardly a bad look on Kurt. 

"I want this to be more than just coffee or collaborating on songs or that time I said I wanted an ice cream bar and you somehow ran all the way to that corner shop that sells them and back before class," Kurt said, looking puzzled for a moment. "Not that those aren't wonderful but-"

"I want that too," Adam said quickly, wincing as Kurt's mouth snapped shut. "I mean, I think I want what you want? If what you're saying is- I mean. We should talk about it."

"After dinner?" Kurt suggested, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Officially?"

Adam tingled at the thought. "Officially."

Kurt bounced onto the tips of his toes once, twice, three times before he quickly darted in to press a firm, smiling kiss to Adam's mouth.

It was over in the span of a breath, before Adam could do more than inhale dizzily, Kurt had pulled back, smile still in place.

"I'll text you that date."

 

* * *

 

Kurt texts him late Thursday night. 

_'got lucky- be Wok of Fame @ 34th and Hightower @ 8PM tomorrow. DRESS NICE.'_

Adam tried to respond smooth and easy and ended up sending an auto-corrected mess. 

He whined and quickly dialed Trish. "I have a date!"

"There's a killer werewolf in New York City and you called to tell me you have a _date_."

"What- am I supposed to cancel on account of 'killer werewolf'? Kurt would drop a stage light on me."

Trish sighed hard into the receiver, the burst of noise making Adam cringe. "Does he even know what he's getting into with you? With the mood swings and the potential to kill him if your lose your cool?"

"What is with you tonight?" Adam snapped, sitting up. "No, he doesn't know I'm a werewolf- it's not safe for me to go around telling every person I date what I am. I'll tell him eventually." He flailed about for something else to say. "You've met Kurt! You _like_ Kurt!"

"I'm just-" Trish cut her off suddenly. "I'm worried that you're going to get yourself killed and you're going on a date. One of us isn't taking this seriously enough and it isn't me!"

She hung up on him before he could respond.

Adam thumbed the screen back to home, excitement waning. He'd spent the last few weeks searching for this rogue alpha- simply because it was the right thing to do. New York City wasn't his responsibility just because he lived here, despite what Trish's old hunter mindset seemed to think. 

He was allowed one night to go out on a date. 

Setting his shoulders to find something suitable to wear in his mess of a closet, Adam promised himself he'd even take a quick walk past NYADA on the way to meet Kurt tomorrow evening. 

Just to ease his mind.

\-------

He should have known it wouldn't have been that easy. 

Harry- an actual werewolf named  _Harry_ \- cornered him before class that morning with a brief message that the alpha had been spotted in the area again, just before dawn.

"Alpha Reyes is dispatching more betas to patrol on the full moon," he said gruffly. "If you see the alpha do not engage. Howl for assistance."

"I'm not helpless," Adam protested before shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm off tonight and I'll be joining Brenna's group on Saturday."

Harry eyed him skeptically for a moment and without another word took off up the side of a building. 

Adam stared up at the open air above them. "That was highly unnecessary."

Trish avoided him all day, going so far as to cover her scent and skip out on class at midday. Kurt barely had a moment to dash by him, grasping his shoulder and rattling off a reminder of their date. As if Adam would _forget_. 

Then the strap broke on his bag and he spilled coffee all over his sheet music and the library's printer was definitively out of ink.

"This day can't possibly get any worse," Adam had muttered to himself and strode the entire walk home to get ready for dinner with Kurt. The full moon wasn't until the next night and already his bones ached with the pull.

Only the bad luck from challenging the Powers of Worse would Brenna's howl cut through the heavy sound of traffic and the buzz of the crowds in the streets.

Adam stilled, letting the people knock into him as he listened intently for the direction of Brenna's call. 

To the east, another wolf howled, and without a thought, Adam shoved his broken messenger bag into the hands of a passing woman and sprinted towards the sound.

Windows flashed by as he leaped from an unsteady crate, feet banging noisily on the top of a dumpster and again across the railing of what Adam hoped was an abandoned apartment complex. He clawed at the brick, turning too close to the corner and nearly colliding with Brenna's body as the alpha- larger than any Adam had seen- threw her through the air.

Harry snarled, eyes flashing amber as he dug his claws into the alpha's shoulder and ripped his fingers through the flesh. 

Adam slid to his knees at Brenna's side, immediately checking for a pulse. She pushed his hand away with a gasp. "Help them."

The alpha roared, his muzzle coming down to tear through Harry's throat. Another body bled sluggishly to their right, it's head ripped clean off its shoulders. 

Adam howled into the sky, darting up the alpha's back to slice along his spine as Harry fell silent beneath them. A gnarled, clawed hand snaked out to circle his ankle and pulled Adam out of his jump away from danger.

He hit the brick wall hard, landing on an unfortunate patch of glassy asphalt. 

The scent of blood was heavy, the alpha's fur matted with it as it staggered to its feet, growling and huffing with exertion. Adam pushed himself to his knees, body healing too slowly. 

The alpha took a swipe at him, claws catching his thigh as he dived away from Brenna's slumped body. His palms stung, scraped raw against the ground.

The alpha snapped its jaws, baring a double row of wide, bloody teeth at Adam. It bent over to creep menacingly along the dirty ground. Adam snarled at it, stuck with nothing more than his beta form. 

The alpha made a short snorting sound, licking its lips with an eager shuffle on it's haunches, prepared to jump.

Adam slipped back onto his ass in an abortive attempt at escaping as an arrow zipped through the air and embedded itself into the alpha's back.

It reared up with a shriek of pain, arms flailing uselessly to reach the arrow sticking out of its spine. Another slammed into the meaty flesh of the alpha's thigh, nearly toppled the massive beast as it curled low to the ground and took off into the night.

Adam nearly choked on a bubble of stunned laughter and looked up to find Trish, bow still loaded, perched easily on a rusty fire escape. 

"You're going to be in so much trouble."

Trish lowered the bow with a roll of her eyes. "Who's going to tell on me?  I didn't use wolfsbane."

Brenna gasped beside them, her hands shiny with blood. Adam scrambled to get across the ground, his thigh burning at the sudden movement. 

"Why isn't she healing already?" Trish asked, her boots tapping on the metal rungs as she hurried down the fire escape. "Why aren't _you_ healing?"

"Wounds from an alpha take longer to heal- they're supposed to be punishment or permanent, " he said, wincing as he peeled back the scrapes of her shirt to get a closer look at her side. More blood leaked out onto the asphalt. "Help me get her to my place."

Trish shouldered her bow with a sigh, dipping low to get her head under Brenna's arm. "Keep your ears open, it might be following us."

Brenna groaned at they began the weirdest three-person shuffle down the back of the alley and across a cracked empty parking lot. They kept to the growing shadows, skipping around the glowing puddles of streetlight shine along the way.

At the back of his apartment building- a tired looking, square of dirt-brown siding and stone- Adam lunged for the bottom rung of the fire escape ladder, cringing as it screeched loose.

He swallowed his own groan of pain as he bend down and gently pulled Brenna's arms over his shoulders. "Hold on tight. Trish- make sure she doesn't fall."

"We left a fucking _trail of blood_  all the way back here," Trish replied, grunting as Brenna started to slip. "Who's going to deal with that?"

"It's supposed to rain tonight-it'll be gone by morning- open the window."

Trish kicked in the glass, the heavy sole of her boots more than enough against a thin, single pane. Adam sighed. "It was open, _Patricia_."

Glass crunched under the boots as they crawled inside Adam's tiny one-bedroom apartment. His back was tacky with cooling blood as he slipped Brenna onto his bed and nearly teetered on shaky legs into his nightstand. 

Trish pushed him down to sit on the edge of the bed with a disgusted look. "Werewolves. Where's your First Aid kit?"

Adam pulled a face. "I _heal_ \- why would I need one?"

She looked about ready to clock him one when Brenna tugged on his shirt and pulled a cracked but somehow still functioning cell phone from her vest pocket. "Call One. Ask for Nok."

 Adam handed the phone over to Trish, taking Brenna's hand in his. "It'll be okay. We just have to stop the bleeding until your body can heal itself."

She tried to smile at him. "Call my father. Tell him about the others."

Adam squeezed her hand in alarm as Brenna's eyes slipped closed. He checked her pulse, just to be sure she'd only slipped into unconsciousness.

Behind him, Trish sucked in a startled breath. "Adam. Do you have any idea who that is?"

Adam shrugged. "Alpha Reyes sent her and two others to help with keeping watch in this area."

Trish looked to the ceiling for patience. "No, he sent his daughter here to keep an eye on you, me and the alpha."

Adam attempted to stand. "You have to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you alone to face down another temperamental alpha!"

"He'll send you away!"

"Then I'll come back with my grandfather."

"Because that'll help ease the tensions," Adam snapped, exhausted and sore. "You'll turn this into a hunting grounds just to prove a point?"

Trish set her bow down against the wall, in clear sight of the door. "I'm not leaving, Adam." She handed over the broken phone. "Now make those calls."

\-----

Nok turned out to be a dark-eyed woman, tall enough to look down at Adam and just old enough to make him feel like a child again for the expression on her face.

She was gentle with Brenna's injuries, firm but soothing as she ground up foul-smelling herbs and pressed them against the worst of the jagged slices that stretched over her hip and up towards her ribs.

She was less gentle with Adam's leg. 

"Her father is going to murder you both," she said, just a little too cheerful at the prospect. "Especially the hunter."

"He won't if he doesn't want to bring down the wraith of the Sterling family on his head."

Nok eyed her speculatively. "Sterling? I'm not sure if you're ballsy or just plain stupid then."

Adam flexed his leg warily, surprised at how little it hurt. "What was in that stuff? It smelled awful."

"Don't ask questions you really don't want to know the answer to."

The front door crashed open, completely splintered into pieces as Alpha Reyes growled at them. Trish's bow came up, arrow notched and Adam barely thought it through before he launched himself at her and out of Reyes' direct line of sight.

Brenna surged up from the bed, eyes wild and blue. "Dad! Stop!"

Alpha Reyes snarled but the beta-form was already melting from his face, teeth dulling as he snapped at the air. "I could smell your blood."

"Because she's reopened her wounds," Nok said, tugging at her short hair. "Werewolves always find a way to be over the top about everything!"

Adam crouched in front of Trish as Reyes circled his apartment, boots crunching over the wood and glass still on the floor. Looking at the man now, he couldn't believe he didn't connect the physical similarities shared between him and Brenna. 

His red eyes narrowed as Adam refused to bow his head. "You told me she wasn't to be involved. Explain."

Brenna huffed from her spot on the bed. "He wasn't on watch tonight. I'm lucky they both showed up when they did or you'd have found my _body_ come morning."

Reyes stood at the foot of the bed, one hand rested on the footboard as he watched Nok work. "Harry and Raoul?"

"Dead. We were too spread out when Raoul called for help- Harry tracked the scent but by the time we both got there, he was gone."

Reyes gestured at Trish. "And you?"

"I was coming back from archery practice, heard the howl and knew what it was," Trish said, back straight and proud. "I thought Adam was in trouble."

"I don't want hunters involved in this."

"She saved my life," Brenna said plainly. "Adam too. This alpha? It's fast- too fast. It's _massive_ and rabid and we need help."

"If you let me work with Adam, I can tell my grandfather that we're keeping the peace- he'll be much more willing to keep the crazier hunter fractions out of the city if he doesn't think he's being stonewalled," Trish suggested, shouldering her bow. "I've worked with other packs before- unless it becomes of a matter of life and death, we always defer the final judgment to the alpha in charge."

Reyes didn't look any less angry but even he knew when he was outnumbered. "We'll speak more in the morning. Nok- can we move her?"

"Her can move herself," Brenna muttered, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed slowly. "Or whatever. I just got my ass kicked, I refuse to be grammatically correct."

Nok eased her onto her feet with a firm grip at Brenna's elbow. "I'll get her settled. Where's the car?"

Reyes fished the keys out of his pocket, tossing them over quickly. "Out front. You'll see it- I'm double-parked."

"Jesus- you'd swear I was human," Brenna said as they shuffled their way out the broken front door. Adam rubbed at the bandage around his bare leg anxiously as Alpha Reyes stared him down. 

"Thank you," he finally said, voice gruff and words clipped. "I know she isn't your pack."

"She doesn't have to be," Adam said, accepting the thanks with a nod. "I'm sorry for the loss of your betas."

Reyes didn't acknowledge Trish on his way out, footsteps heavy as he walked away. She poked her head out the door and waved briefly at Adam's sole neighbor. "Sorry about the noise- the locks in this place are awful. Everything will be good as new in the morning."

Adam scrubbed at his hair, wincing as his hands came back dirty. "This entire day has been awful and it isn't even a full moon until tomorrow night. I want to sleep until next Christmas."

"Let me change the sheets before you go into hibernation," Trish said, disappearing down the side hallway. "Besides, didn't you have that date with Kurt today?"

Adam's heart stuttered at the reminder, cold sweat breaking out along his temples and palms. His throat burned as his gaze zeroed in on the time. Just after midnight. 

He was supposed to have met Kurt _hours_ ago. 

Fumbling for his phone in his blood pants pocket, Adam hit three and tried to breathe. He'd just explain, Kurt would be angry at first no doubt but he wasn't unreasonable. He'd hear Adam out- nothing else would be ruined today.

The message for Kurt's voice mail kicked in. He ended the call and tried again.

Kurt never answered.


End file.
